Reclosable cartons



Oct. 6, 1959 w. R. SAIDELI 2,907,511

g RECLOSABLE CARTONS Filed NOV. 13, 1956 Mir-5 United States Patent I "2,907,511 RECLGSABLE-CARTONS William R. Saidel, Park Forest, 11L, assignmto Foil Cartons, line -Chicago Heights, lll.,'a corporation of Illinois Application November 13, 1956, SerialNo. 621,694

"6 Claims. (Cl. 229* 17) The present invention relates to cartons and more particularly to cartons which can be initially sealed, opened to ipermi-t removal of part of the contents and then reclosed to assist in maintaining the remainder of the contentsin a relatively sealed condition within the carton until the removal of more of the contents is desired.

The invention also comprises structure wherein a single blank can be precut, perforated and scored so that it may be readily folded, as necessary, to form the carton.

The particular feature of the invention relates to a construction of such a nature that when the carton has the cartoncan be erected or set up;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a carton partially-set Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a fragmentary part of the steps in closing the carton opening;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the carton fully closed, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

As shown in Fig. 1, the carton comprises a single piece of box or container board having body forming panels 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14. The panel has attached thereto flaps 10T and 10B separated by the score lines 10 and 10".

Panel 11 has affixed thereto flaps HT and HT and 11B, being defined by the score line 11' and 11" and the perforated line 11P.

Panel 12 has attached thereto a relatively long flap 12T and a relatively short flap- 12B, being foldable along the lines 12' and 12" respectively.

Panel 13 has afiixed thereto flaps 13T and 13T, the latter being foldable along the perforated line 13]? and the former along the score line 13. At the bottom there is a flap 13B foldable along score line 13".

Panel 14 includes flaps 14T and 14B respectively, folded along score lines 14' and 14" respectively.

The carton blank is further foldable along the score lines 15, 16, 17 and 18.

In the set up of the carton certain of the flaps are intended to be adhered, one to the other. For illustrative purposes the surfaces to which other parts are to adhere have been illustrated by means of stippling, as best appears in Fig. 1.

The carton may be set up by folding panels 11 and 13 along the score lines 16 and 17 until panels 11 ice then 13B folded on top of HT, in which condition the parts are sealingly united.

As a matter of convenient reference that part of the carton comprising the portions 113 and 13B in the setup carton, will be termed the bottom and the part comprising the portions HT and 13T and associated portions termed the top.

To form the top of the carton adhered flaps IGT and 14T are folded inwardly, flap 13T folded on top of HT. Thereafter 'fiap 12T is folded inwardly so that the end portion 12F thereof overlies part 13T. Then flap 13T is folded over flap 12T. Finally flap HT is folded over flap 13T. All of the engaging flaps are then sealingly united except only that portion 12Fof flap 12T which extends inwardly of the carton beyond the underlying zone 13A of flap 13T.

Thus while flap HT is sealingly united with flap 13T and flap 13T an end portion 12F of the flap- 12T is free from sealing engagement with the underlying flap 13T.

It will thus be seen that the carton is effectively sealed throughout. Yet, when it is desired to open the carton, it is but necessary to pull upwardly on the free end portion 12F whereupon flaps 13T and 11T', which overlie flap IZT, will be torn from the panels 13 and 11 respectively along the perforation lines 13F and HP respectively, thus exposing the rectangular opening 20 through which part or all of the contents can be removed. However, the carton is intended for use with products, portions only of which will be removed from time to time. i

To reclose the carton the end portionlZF of flap IZT is tucked under the inner face of flap 11T as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 5. In closed position end portions of flaps MT and 13T' form a shoulder 2-2 which abuts against shoulder 23 formed by the ends of flaps HT and 13T. A neat, compact and relatively tight closure is thus formed. When it is desired to remove additional contents from the carton the closed structure comprising the sealingly engaged flaps 12T, 13T and 11T may easily be swung upwardly with the score line 12 as the hinge, the desired amount of the contents removed and the carton opening again closed, as before described.

The lift flap MT is provided with score lines in the shape of an inverted V. This is to facilitate folding the lift flap downwardly from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that of Fig. 3 without catching on the edges of flaps HT and 13T. To fold the lift flap pressure is applied against the triangular area 12A which tends to cause the flap to assume a somewhat concave shape, thus slightly reducing its width so that it will swing freely past the upstanding flaps HT and 13T'.

The terms top and bottom in the specification and claims are used merely as a matter of convenience in description and are not intended as limitations since other parts of the carton, where like structural arrangements can be provided, are intended to be within the scope of the invention disclosed and claimed.

I claim:

l. A carton comprising a bottom, two side walls, two end walls, a permanent top closure section extending from an end wall inwardly and terminating short of the other end wall to provide an access opening, a lift flap foldably connected to said last mentioned end wall extending over said opening to close same and having an end portion extending beyond the opening and resting upon a portion of said permanent top closure adjacent said opening, and a pair of flaps, one connected to each side wall by a weakened fold line to facilitate severance, one of said last mentioned flaps being folded upon the upper side of said lift flap and being sealingly. united wardly and inserting an end portion thereof under the adjacent permanent top closure section.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 in which at least one of the pair of flaps overlying said lift flap has an edge portion which is in substantial alignment with that edge portion of the permanent top closure section which terminates short of said other end wall whereby when the end portion of the lift flap is inserted under the permanent top section, said aligned edge portions of said overlying flap form a shoulder which abuts against the shoulder formed by the adjacent end of the said permanent top section.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 in which said pair of flaps which overlie said lift flap have edge portions which are in substantial alignment with that edge portion of the permanent top closure section which ter minates short of said other end wall whereby when the end portion of said lift flap is inserted under the permanent top section, said aligned edge portions of said overlying flaps form a shoulder which abuts against the shoulder formed by the adjacent end of said permanent top section.

4. The arrangement set forth in claim 1 in which the lift flap includes score means so disposed that pressure applied to an outer face portion of the lift flap results in curving the lift flap to reduce its width at least in part so that it may befolded'between the pair of side flaps without catching on the edges thereof.

5. The arrangement set forth in claim 1 in which the lift flap comprises score lines whichprior to the folding of the lift flap to closing position areof inverted Y shape, the stem portion extending along a median plane "of the flap and terminating short of the fold line of the flap with its end wall and the branch lines of the Y extend angularly toward opposite edges of the lift flap.

6. A carton comprising a bottom, two side walls, two end walls, a permanent top closure section extending from an end wall inwardly and terminating short of the other end wall to provide an access opening, a lift flap foldably connected to said last mentioned end wall extending over said opening to close same and havingan end portion extending beyond the'opening and resting upon a portion of said permanent top closure adjacent said opening and being sealingly united thereto in part and having an end portion unsealed to facilitate the initial lifting thereof, and a pair of flaps, one connected to each side wall by a weakened fold line to facilitate severance, one of said last mentioned flaps being folded upon the upper side of said lift flap and being sealingly united theretoand the other of said last mentioned. flaps being folded upon the'upper side of they said flap which is disposed upon the liftflap and being sealingly' united thereto, whereby said opening is initially sealingly closed in such manner that when the lift flap is initially swung upwardly on'its fold line, said pair of flaps is severed from the side walls along said weakened fold lines, thus exposing the access opening and also permitting re-closing of the access opening by folding the lift flap ,downwardly and inserting an end portion thereof under the adjacent permanent top closure section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,129,980 Alfred Sept. 13, 1938 2,195,922 Gibson et al. Apr. 2, 1940 2,205,068 Potter June 18, 1940 2,337,730 Berch Dec. 28,1943 2,358,923 Guyer Sept. 26, 1944 2,364,364 Hultin Dec. 5, 1944 2,465,949 Williamson Mar. 29, 1949 2,593,778 McGinnis Apr. 22, 1952 2,617,581 Smith Nov. 11, 1952 2,757,850 Kleiber Aug. 7, 1956 

